It was very bland and tasteless. Which is obviously something I did wrong because everyone has been describing the dish as very delicious. I will say that the garlic did become a bit too brown and crispy which could have also contributed to it. And perhaps I did not make the pasta water salty enough ( although I thought I did). Any suggestions on how to make it tastier? And should the garlic be cooked? I used natural garlic.
Here is the recipe I tried to emulate
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/vJPDvxgWKx4
by Hot_Panic2767
9 Comments
I meant to ask how should the garlic be cooked? Like should it be just for a few minutes because mine got brown and crunchy
I prefer slowly cooking the garlic, almost infusing it. Of course, you need a good olive oil
Start with the garlic in the oil cold then heat it up slowly
Did you use EVO oil? Garlic
You need a FRUITY olive oil. Lots of body and peppery undertones. You also need to salt your water. I also had salted butter at the end.
You want to cook garlic, parsley stems, and chilis in a mix of water and oil, letting the aromatics infuse the water, rather than fry the ingredients. The goal is to create an emulsion that you can add the pasta to, which it will then absorb.
My favourite video for how to do this is here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u_V9eiLxU4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u_v9eilxu4)
It’s from Italia Squisita, and provides several different aglio e olio recipes, all from Luciano Monosilio.
Add some salt to the sauce as well, or salt your water quite a bit more.
Here’s some tips.
* Start with olive oil and garlic in a **cold** pan, then turn heat to medium. This lets the oil and garlic infuse as the pan comes to temperature.
* Do not brown the garlic. You just want to release flavor into the oil. When you’ve sweat the garlic long enough, put pasta water into the pan to prevent burning.
* At least two garlic cloves per portion.
* Use just enough water to cook the pasta. This way, your water will be more starchy and help emulsifies the sauce.
* Make sure to salt your pasta water.
* Finish cooking the pasta in the sauce with a bit of pasta water.
* If the flavor is bland to you, try adding other ingredients. Anchovies, red pepper flakes, lemon, etc. can be nice touches. Finishing with cheese or toasted bread crumbs.
Add some pepper flakes and black pepper to get some heat to balance out the other flavors